Wildcat Spirit
by Mac-alicious
Summary: Gabriella Montez was a good luck charm. At least, Troy Bolton considered her so. [oneshot]


A/N: Here's the one of the other HSM oneshots. This one is compliant to HSM, but not really HSM 2 because Gabriella and Troy aren't dating. But it would take place in their senior year after Lava Springs, but Lava Springs didn't happen….if that makes sense. Anyway, Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own.

**Wildcat Spirit**

Gabriella Montez was a good luck charm.

At least, Troy Bolton considered her so. She had attended every game since the beginning of the season. She sat in the same seat in the bleachers at every home game. She screamed and cheered, like the devoted fan she was. And they had won every game, hands down.

Troy was far from considering himself superstitious. He wouldn't go so far as to say that there was some force, brought on by her presence, which made them win. What he did know was that being able to look up into the stands and find her there, cheering him on, gave him something similar to an adrenaline rush. He moved faster, he blocked, he stole, he dunked, he _scored_. All because he knew she was there just for him.

That, of course, helped them to win. Troy couldn't imagine a game without Gabriella in the stands. It was a major ego boost to have someone he cared about rooting for him. He didn't want to know what it felt like to not have that.

They were coming up on a crucial game. It was nearing the playoffs and they couldn't afford to lose to this team. Especially not after their, so far, perfect season. So, Troy was counting on Gabriella to be there. He couldn't ever find a reason why she wouldn't be there. He assumed her presence was a certainty. As his best friend she wouldn't miss it for something trivial.

Troy underestimated the _substantial _problems he could cause by saying something stupid.

One little slip of the tongue and what had been a small disagreement—easily resolved—turned into a huge argument. The huge argument wasn't so easily resolved. As soon as the words had left his mouth, he knew he had hurt her. He saw the tears well up in her eyes, only to recede and be replaced with anger. He didn't know how he could be so stupid to say such a thing to her. From the very moment he said it, he knew he was going to regret it. He flinched when she flung his words back at him, but that didn't stop him from continuing to fight her. He couldn't control it. He felt like an idiot for not stopping it before it got out of hand.

* * *

_"It's not like I asked for your opinion anyway." Troy snapped, then mentally kicked himself immediately after._

_Gabriella's face fell, but a moment later her eyes flashed. "Oh, you didn't ask for my opinion huh? It doesn't matter what I have to say, right?"_

_Troy couldn't help but wince as the tone of her voice cut at him. "I didn't mean that."_

_"It certainly sounded sincere to me." Gabriella scoffed._

_"Don't do that." Troy shook his head._

_"What? It's clear you don't care what I think. I mean, why should you? I'm only your best friend. I guess I don't matter that much."_

_"Will you stop that? You're overreacting." Wrong thing to say…_

_"Overreacting?" Gabriella exclaimed. "You basically said I'm not important enough to you for you to value my opinion. How should I be reacting?"_

_"No, I don't need your input on everything. But you're putting words in my mouth—I never said you weren't important to me." Troy responded firmly. "You just took it the wrong way."_

_"So it's all my fault huh?" Gabriella questioned angrily. "You're not going to take credit for what you said?"_

_"You can't possibly blame me for saying it. I was angry and you got me all riled up." Troy replied, knowing full well that he should have apologized a long time before letting it get that far. _

_Gabriella recoiled; she had expected him to apologize. He always did. "Well, I'll let you get ready for your game."_

_Gabriella slipped past Troy and moved toward the door of his room. Troy stayed facing forward, his back to the door. He was internally battling himself. It was only a second before he whipped around to stop her. _

_"Gabby, wait!"_

_But she was already gone._

* * *

As Troy stood on the East High court, he looked up into the stands and found only an empty space where Gabriella should be. He tried to force down the pain that rose in his chest. He had really hurt her, but he refused to let go of the hope that she might still show up. Evidence to that was the fact that he had stopped and glanced up at the stands at least ten times in the last five minutes. He was supposed to be warming up with the team, but he kept falling out of the rotations. Troy sighed as he drew his eyes away from the empty seat.

Chad jogged up behind Troy, and clapped him on the back. "Come on, Captain."

"I'm coming." Troy responded, non-committal.

"Troy, man, what's wrong?" Chad frowned.

Troy took that cue to glance back up at the bleachers. Chad followed his gaze and blew out a breath. All of their other friends were seated and waiting for the game to start. All except one gap. Chad knew how important it was to Troy to have Gabriella there.

"What happened?" Chad asked.

"We got in a fight. I said something really stupid." Troy explained.

"That's nothing new." Chad attempted a lighthearted joke and failed to draw any reaction from Troy.

Troy's shoulders slumped, "I really hurt her. She's not going to come."

Chad wasn't quite sure what to do. They couldn't have their star player run down for this important of a game, but it wasn't likely that Troy's demeanor would improve without Gabriella there. Chad did the only thing he could do: try and motivate Troy toward the importance of the game.

"Get'cha head in the game." Chad tried to sound enthusiastic. "This is a big game. We need our Captain."

"I'm in this, Chad. Don't worry." Troy's tone picked up, but Chad could tell he was putting on an act for his benefit. The spirit didn't quite light up Troy's face, or reach his eyes.

Chad didn't further the subject, he humored Troy's façade. As they reached the rest of the team, he called out. "Let's do this. What team?"

"Wildcats!" The team chorused. Troy remained completely silent, glancing once again toward where his best friend should be.

* * *

The team filed into the locker room during halftime with their heads down. Jack Bolton watched as his team sunk into the benches. He couldn't figure out what had gotten into them. He had watched them shut down and destroy every team on their schedule since the beginning of the season. Now with one game they were down this much at half? He didn't know what happened, but it had to be big.

"What is going on with you guys tonight? This is not the team that has won every game this season. This is not the team we took to the Championship last year! What happened?" Jack exclaimed.

The entire team remained silent, only Chad daring to move—stealing a slight glance toward Troy. Troy was off his game, everyone could tell. He was missing shots, getting the ball stolen from him, and he was giving up. And his team was feeling it, because they were starting to give up too.

"You're lagging. It's like the spirit has gone out of you. You have no energy." Their coach continued.

Troy had found a spot on the ground to train his eyes on. He focused on it as his father berated the team for things that described what he was feeling perfectly. Everything that was going on with his team had started with him, and he knew it. He felt helpless to change it, though.

As they headed back out of the locker room a while later, Chad stopped Troy while the rest of the team and their coach went on.

"Troy you can do this with or without Gabriella. You can't let this girl do this to you. You can apologize later. Right now you have a game to win." Chad spoke firmly.

"I can't do it Chad." Troy murmured, shaking his head. "I'll ask my Dad to take me out, give you guys a chance."

"You have to do this Troy. This isn't about you. You have to do this for this team." Chad exclaimed then clapped Troy on the back. "Snap out of it, man."

Chad jogged off after the team. Troy took a moment to take a deep breath, before he followed. He felt defeated and that was a feeling he hated. Troy had to force himself to not look at that spot in the bleachers. He was trying to come to terms with the sad reality that she wasn't there and she wasn't coming. It hurt, but he had to handle it. He couldn't let down his team.

At least he couldn't not try.

* * *

It was five minutes into the fourth quarter and things were looking up for the Wildcats. They had managed to score enough baskets to put them in a manageable distance from victory. Not that Troy could take any of the credit. He was doing the best he could. At that moment, his best was focusing on not looking into the stands. Doing that allowed him to imagine that Gabriella wasn't missing. It was working okay, he had stopped losing the ball—he still couldn't make a shot though. His team seemed to be making up for that nicely. It was starting to seem like everything would be okay—even without his help.

Then he got fouled.

What happened next could not be labeled as his fault. It was an action of complete instinct. When Troy came up for a free throw, he had a certain routine he followed. It didn't vary, so he had no reason to change what he was about to do—he didn't even realize. In the moments between when he was fouled and when he stepped up to the free throw line, he had no chance to correct his actions. He went through his usual motions: he clutched the ball a couple times in his hands, listened as the crowd went silent and…

He looked into the stands.

And he immediately realized his mistake. When it came down to him having to make a free throw, under the usual circumstances, Troy would look up into the stands, searching out Gabriella. They would share small smiles: hers encouraging, his promising. It was like a boost of confidence. Only finding her missing made his confidence level drop considerably in a split second. He swallowed nervously before he took his shot. It missed. Feeling even more down trodden, if that was even possible, he took the ball for his second shot.

His body tensed as his fingers curled around the ball. He felt as if he couldn't breath, as if something (or someone) had a tight grip on his chest—his lungs, his heart. He felt paralyzed with insecurity. He resigned himself to the knowledge that he wasn't going to make this shot either. And then he heard it.

"Troy!"

His name resounded in his ears. He looked up, uncertain as to how the sound had made it to him. It had been distinct, and it was a sound he found most precious. Because there he found her, looking out of breath, starting up the stands toward her usual seat—her eyes on him the entire time. It was like a fire was lit inside of him. She was late, but she was there.

Troy quickly made the next free throw and it sunk in easy. The crowds jumped to their feet and cheered as game play restarted. Troy was at his best again and his team recognized it. The Wildcat Spirit was back with the team. The ball was stolen, switched back to their possession. And the next time the ball reached their Captain's hands he shot a perfect three pointer—putting them six points from victory. They could win this.

They _would_ win this. There was no longer any other option.

* * *

Gabriella had found her usual seat between Taylor and Kelsi, both of who were there supporting their boyfriends. On the other side of Kelsi, Sharpay sat with her brother. She tried to look impassive, as if she couldn't be less interested, but she was caught sending occasional affectionate glances toward her sometimes-maybe-boyfriend Zeke. Gabriella greeted Taylor, before turning her attention back on the game.

"Gabby! You're late! You almost…" Taylor paused to scream when Chad got a hold of the ball before continuing, never taking her eyes off the game. "…missed the entire game. We got down in the first quarter and have been losing ever since. Where were you?"

"Troy and I got in a fight this afternoon, I wasn't going to come." Gabriella admitted her voice low.

"Ah!" Taylor exclaimed, "No wonder our star Wildcat has been playing so poorly. He couldn't make a shot to save his life before you got here."

"Troy was playing badly?" Gabriella looked shocked.

"Didn't you see that missed free throw a minute ago? When does Troy ever miss a free throw? The poor boy was a wreck." Taylor responded. "What happened?"

"It was stupid." Gabriella muttered. "I should have been here. Was it really that bad? They're looking good right now."

"Well, something about you being here brought the life back into Troy. Look at the energy! That's got something to do with you. He played the first three quarters of the game looking worn out. Like he had lost all hope. It made the whole team pretty much give up."

"I don't know what that has to do with me." Gabriella frowned.

"He kept looking for you."

"Oh."

It was then that Gabriella recalled a conversation she had with Troy after one of the games earlier in the season. _"You bring me good luck."_ Gabriella realized how many times they unconsciously met eyes during a game: before free throws, during warm-ups, after the wildcats made a shot. She didn't like the idea that she almost single-handedly cost East High an important game. So, she pushed it aside and only thought of what it felt like to be a good luck charm for Troy.

Gabriella jumped and cheered as she watched the Wildcats fight their way toward another win. They gave up only four more points, only to gain them back and a few more. They were now only two points from a tie and three from a victory. It all came down to one last shot. And the ball was in Troy's hands.

"Come on Troy, come on." Gabriella chanted in a whisper as she watched Troy dribble down the court.

Troy weaved through the opposing team. He found an open shot, but it would only be so for a moment. He adjusted himself so he was behind the three point line. His eyes flashed to Gabriella's figure in the stands for a second before he made the shot. Then it was as if time slowed to a near halt. Every player had their eyes on the basket. It was like all the sound had been blocked out. The crowd was on their feet, their breath caught in their throats.

And then the ball went in.

The buzzer sounded the end of the game.

And the crowd erupted back into life.

* * *

As the Wildcat victory was announced, the stands emptied onto the court. Troy and the rest of the team were swallowed by the hordes of screaming spectators. Troy was searching the crowd for Gabriella, but had yet to catch a glimpse of her. Chad came up behind Troy and clapped him on the back again, before heading toward his girlfriend. Troy watched as Taylor ran into Chad's arms immediately kissing him firmly on the mouth. To his right, Jason was twirling his girlfriend Kelsi around. He saw Sharpay heading for Zeke, an uncharacteristic smile on her face. Ryan trailed along behind her, congratulating every player he came close enough to. But no Gabriella.

Finally at the edge of the crowd, Troy was able to find her. She was standing at the foot of the bleachers, having decided she wasn't going to fight her way into the chaos that had developed in the center of the court. When Troy met her eyes, she offered up a small smile.

"Gabby, I thought you weren't going to come." Troy replied as he came to stand in front of her.

"I almost didn't." Gabriella agreed, nodding slightly.

They went quiet, just looking at each other for a moment, before they both opened their mouths at the same time:

"I'm sorry—"

"I'm sorry—"

Troy chuckled nervously and Gabriella blushed. This was the first time they had ever gotten into a fight like that. They didn't know exactly how to remedy the awkwardness. Troy sighed and decided he would go first—she deserved his apology.

"Gabriella, I really am sorry. What I said was stupid and I didn't mean it." Troy apologized, his voice slightly edged with desperation. "Can you forgive me?"

Gabriella smiled. "Of course." Then she lowered her head looking at her intertwined hands. "I actually owe you an apology too. I overreacted, no, don't argue. I knew you didn't mean it, and I blew it out of proportion. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when I should have been."

"It's not your fault." Troy exclaimed.

"It's not yours either!" Gabriella shook her head.

"Let's not do this." Troy chuckled, "You know what happened earlier."

"Yeah." Gabriella smiled, "Well congratulations on another victory."

"I owe it to my good luck charm." Troy responded causing Gabriella to laugh and throw her arms around him in a hug.

No, Troy Bolton was not superstitious. He believed what he wants to believe. Maybe it was all mental. Maybe it was all in his head. Maybe it was about having the support of his biggest fan. Troy didn't care what the logical explanation. He saw it the way he wanted to see it. Gabriella Montez was a good luck charm, and she always managed to come through somehow.


End file.
